Swinging gate.



Patented July 3, I900.

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(No Model.)

Patented July 3, I900.

W. R. WHITE.

SWINGING GATE.

(Application filed Sept. 25, 1899.)

2 ShaetsSheet Z QNo Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT O ICE.

WILLIAM RICHARD WHITE, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

SWING I'NG GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,870, dated July 3, 1900.

Application filed September 25, 1899.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM RICHARD WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bloomington, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have. invented certain new and useful Improvements in Swinging. Gates, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in swinging gates; and it consists, substantially, in such features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts as will hereinafter be more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a swinging gate and its operating mechanism made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the gate. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the latch-bar. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the gate.

The gate A, as shown, consists of upper and lowerlongitudinal rails 1 and 2, formed, pref erably, of channel-iron, with the channels opposing each other, the uprights 3, diagonal braces I, and longitudinal rods or bars 5, extending through openings in the uprights and braces. The ends of the uprights and braces are bent to lie one upon the other in the channels of the top and bottom rails and are secured to the rails by rivets 6 or other suitable means. This makes a very neat finish, as the bent ends of the uprights and braces are hidden within'the channels and a smooth unbroken outer surface is presented.

The rods or bars 5, with the exception of I nal movement by any suitable means as, for

instance, by burring or otherwise forming a head 7 on one end to engage the outer face of one end upright and threading the other end for the reception of a nut 8 to engage the outer face of the other end upright. In this way the rods can readily be removed,if necessary. However, both ends may be burred or headed, if preferred, or other means be employed to secure the rods in place.

One of the rods 5, preferably the upper one, will have a horizontally-disposed U- shaped loop 9 formed in it near the hinge end of the gate, this loop forming a fulcrum for the arm which operates the latch-bar, as will be referred to hereinafter. The rod or bar immediately below this is the latch-bar and Serial No. 731,629. (No model.)

is mounted to have longitudinal movement in the uprights and braces. This rod is also provided with a horizontally disposed U- shaped loop 10, extending oppositely to the loop 9 and in substantially the same vertical plane. Near the other end of the gate the latch-bar is bent to form an upwardly-extending loop 11 to'serve as a handheld. To facilitate the insertion of the latch-bar through the uprights and braces, it will preferably be made in two sections united by a couplingsleeve 12, into which the adjacent ends of the two sections will be screwed.

The latch consists of a vertically-disposed spring strip or rod 13, which is bent at its ends and the bent portions secured to the upper and lower rails 1 and 2. This spring-latch is so arranged that normally it will operatively engage the catch 14:,and to be disengaged must be put under tension. The latch-bar is extended beyond the end upright and connected to the latch in any suitable manner, preferably by nuts 15 on opposite sides of the latch. The latchbar must necessarily fit loosely in its bearings in the uprights and braces in order that it may slide freely therein, and the loop 11, which forms the handhold must, in order that it may be most conveniently grasped from either side of the gate, extend vertically either above or below the latch-bar. It is obvious that in opening the gate by hand the pressure exerted on the handhold will naturally tend to pull the loop 11 out of its vertical position, and thus turn the latch-bar in its bearings. This tendency to turn will in a measure be resisted by the nuts 15 if both are screwed tightly against the latch; but either of said nuts is liable to turn away from the latch, and thereby make a loose connection between the bar and latch. Any turning of the bar will naturally disturb the connect-ion between the coupling 12 and the two sections of the latch-bar, and in the course of time this will result in one of three thingseither the latch-bar will be unduly shortened, or it will be unduly lengthened, or the coupling will become disconnected from one of the sections of the latch-bar, with the eifect in either case of interfering with the proper operation of the gate. Some means must therefore be provided to positively prevent the latch-bar from turning in its bearings without interfering with its longitudinal move ment, and this I accomplish by bending the end of the bar beyond the end of the gate to form a crank 16 between the end upright and the latch. This also results in bringing the connection between the latch and latch-bar lower down, so that the catch may be arranged to engage the latch about midway the length of the latter.

It is obvious that the crank 16 maybe formed in the latch-bar between any two of its supports; but the construction shown is preferable, as it does not mar the symmetrical appearance of the gate between the end uprights. It is also obvious that the catch could be turned or reversed so as to have the notch adjacent to the end of the gate and cause the latch to move toward the end of the gate to engage with it instead of moving away from the gate, or the catch could be made in the form of a spear-head, with a notch on either side, so that the latch could move either toward or from the gate, as desired, the movement of the latch-bar being regulated to correspond with the direction in which it is desired to have the latch move.

The gate may be hinged to the post 17 in any suitable manner and is adapted to swing against the posts 18 and 19, each of which is provided with a catch 14.

The operating hand-levers for the gate are indicated by 20, one being pivoted intermediate its ends to a post 21 and the other to a block 22, projecting diagonally from a post 17. A tie-bar 24 is fastened to the upper ends of the posts 21 and 17 and the outer end of the block 22, and this, together with braces 25 and guiding-loop 26, insures a firm support for the levers 20 and prevents any undue lateral motion. The opposing ends of the levers are loosely connected by means of a pin 27, pivoted in aslot 28 in one lever and extending loosely into a hole 20, formed in the end of the other lever and extending lengthwise thereof. By pulling on either 1ever at its outer end the opposing ends, which normally sag downward, will both be lifted. The arm which transmits movement from the levers 20 to the latch-bar is indicated by B, and, as shown, it consists of a metal bar or rod at, having an eye I) at its upper end and bent into the form of a crank-handle c at its lower end. It is also provided with a lateral extension d, and the latter is bent to form a journal 0, which lies substantially parallel to the middle portion of the arm and which has a bearingin an opening formed in the top rail of the gate and forms a pivot about which the arm may turn. The crank-handle portion of the arm engages the U-shaped loops 9 and 10, and when the arm 13 turns on its pivot the loop 9 acts as a fulcrum upon which the crank rocks, and the latch-bar is thus moved longitudinally to operate the latch. A link 27 is pivotally connected at one end to the eye I) and at its other end to an eye 28, secured to one of the levers 20.

The U-shaped loops on the rods or bars 5 and the shape of the arm 13 and manner of mounting on the gate and engaging it with the U-shaped loops insure a positive movement of the latch-bar, with little friction and little lost motion between the operating parts. It is obvious that the crank-shaped portion of the latch-bar will effectually prevent the bar from turning in its bearings, and consequently the connections between the coupling 12 and the two sections of the latch-bar will not be disturbed and the loop 11 will maintain its vertical position to be easily grasped by a person on either side of the gate.

Without limiting myself to the precise details of construction and arrangement shown and described, I claim as my invention- 7 1. In a gate, the combination with the uprights and the latch, of a oross-sectionallyround latch-bar connected to the latch and supported in said uprights to slide longitudinally therein, said bar being formed of two sections, one of which is provided with a vertically-disposed loop forming a handhold and a crank-shaped portion between two of its supports, and the other section having ahorizontally-disposed loop with which a latch-actuating arm'engages, and a coupling into which the opposing ends of the sections are screwed, substantially as set forth.

2. In a gate, the combination with the uprights and the latch, of a cross-sectionallyround latch-bar connected to the latch and supported in said uprights to slide longitudinally therein, said bar having a verticallyextending loop near one end to form a handhold, and a crank shaped portion between two of its supports to prevent it from turning in its bearings, substantially as set forth.

3. In a gate, the combination with a fixed, longitudinally-extending bar having a horizontally-disposed loop formed therein, of a sliding latch-bar having a horizontally-disposed loop extending oppositely to the loop in the fixed bar, alatch connected to the latchbar, an arm pivoted in the gate and having a crank-shaped portion engaging the loops, and means to actuate the arm, substantially as set forth.

4. In a gate, the combination of the operating-levers 20, an arm having an eye at its upper end, a crank-shaped lower end, and a lateral extension supported in the top rail of the gate and forming a pivot about which the arm may turn, a link connected to said eye and one of the lovers, a fixed bar in the gate having a horizontally-disposed loop, a sliding latch-bar also having a horizontally-disposed loop, said loops extending in opposite directions and being engaged by the crank-shaped portion of the arm, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM RICHARD \VHITE.

Witnesses:

HENRY G. BINNS, WALTER E. MAYNARD. 

